I am new with Buicks and this forum. I have an original 1971 Skylark with all the original equipment. I purchased it to resell. The original color is a light brown with an ivory interior which is in good condition and I want to keep. I want a paint job that will attract a lot of attention and people will want to buy. I will also put on new tires and wheels. Since "Paint is everything" do you think I should keep the original color keeping the car original, put a different color that will look great with the ivory like black or go for a GSX paint theme and make it a clone. If GSX is the way to go, does anyone know where I can get the items I will need to clone the 71? Thanks, George
George, I'd go with the GSX look. It will sell quicker since they are becoming more and more popular lately. Beware though, as you may decide to keep it. They are awesome looking cars. Most of the stuff can be found at places like Poston, The Parts Place, Year One, Legendary Interiors and others. Some of the tougher items can usually be found on here if you ask around a bit or Flea-bay as a last resort. Remember not to misrepresent it though as only 124 real 71's were ever built and only a small percentage of that are documented to still be around. You would get shot down pretty quick with a skylark VIN as they were all made from GS bodies, not to mention just being plain "wrong" morally. Good luck with the project.
Personally, I would vote for making it a nice looking Skylark, maybe with GSX stripes. Doing a full fledged GSX clone will be very expensive. Grill alone is well over $500 repro, plus spoilers, hood tach, etc...
Personally I think you're foolish to think you can repaint a Skylark prettier and make money, considering how much it costs to paint a car.
Depending on the conditon of the body, I would go with black. I have that same ivory interior and when I purchased the car it had a new black paint job on it, and I can definitley say, the black had a part in my attreaction.
Personally, unless you 1. get the paint work done for free or 2. don't feel your time is worth anything, I say sell it the way it is. The cost of painting the car will not be recouped. How good is the paint on the car? If it is original, even in poor condition this is a great selling point. Changing the color properly is a HUGE job, it just isn't cost effective. Brian
A lot depends on how much you have in the car to start, and what area in the country you live in. Paint work can still be done reasonably in some parts of the country. I've seen clones that weren't any more than GS hood, correct paint & stipes and spoilers, with bucket interior bring more than 11,000. Repo grilles are starting to become available too. A regular skylark unless it is truly remarkable or a convertible won't bring much more than half that. Plus about any color Buick had can be used in the 71 and 72's. Just MHO.
By the time you clone a '71 Skylark into a '71 GS, consider these parts that you will have to acquire for you to do that: '71 GS Grille (NOS)- $2,500 (or is it more, now?) Reproduction Rear Spoiler- $300 GSX Stripe Stencils- $300 (Phoenix Graphics) GS Hood- $800 (fair condition)-$1,200 (nice condition) GS Ram Air Cleaner- $100 (used)-$300 (restored) Do you really want to SPEND that kind of money, for you to make LESS, by the time you're finished with it? You should buy Chevy's if you want to resell cars and make a Profit! Buicks won't do it for you! :Smarty: o No: Good Luck, no matter what you decide. :bglasses:
That is my point exactly. I have tried, unless you get the car for free, and happen to have a few of the parts lying around, you just don't make enough money on "restoring" a car for resale. Not unless you are willing to do a hack MACCO job or something like that. And if you do that you are distroying a nice original car. Brian
I have to go with the herd on this one: the odds of you getting back the $$ you'll spend to do an even semi-accurate clone are slim to none. Driver2 is right on the money as far as Buicks not being a hot commodity, unless it's something off the wall.
Not that it makes any difference, but the repro 71 GS grilles, which are excellent , sell for 629.00 now I think.... (the parts place) later Tim
